The palatine tongue is a small conical process of the posterior edge of the soft palate

The tongue of the palatine is a small process. It has a conical shape. The tongue is located in the mouth, where the edge of the sky( its soft part) is seen, slightly higher than the root of the tongue. The tongue consists of connective and muscular tissue, on the outside it is covered by the mucous membrane. This appendix separates the pharynx and throat zones from each other.

Palate functions

The main function of the palatine tongue is to protect the nasopharynx, for example, from ingestion of food and moisture when the person performs swallowing movements. The tongue regulates the process of input and output of foods consumed by humans into the digestive tract, prevents the possibility of accidentally regurgitating food. Foods related to the palatine tongue provoke a throat spasm that does not allow a person to choke.

There are people in the world who do not have a palatine tongue after the operation or because of the congenital malformation. Its absence almost does not affect the quality of life, but increases the risk of drinking or eating into the nasopharynx. During the swallowing process, simultaneous movements of the muscles of the palatine and soft palate provide a rise in the hard palate and unhindered passage of food and moisture from the oral cavity straight to the pharynx.

Healthy tongue

In a healthy state, the palatine tongue is small in size and has a gently pink color, like the entire oral cavity. Touching a healthy process, of course, can cause a vomitive reflex. If the palatal tongue is healthy, you can usually also observe a clear sky and the absence of other signs of angina and inflammation of the mouth. If the tongue is too long, then in general it can be considered healthy.

In diseases of

The tongue of the palatine with white formation is a common symptom of some diseases, for example, such as tonsillitis or exacerbation of tonsillitis. Usually in this case white coating covers not only this organ, but also tonsils, and other parts of the throat. The edge of the sky is also usually covered with a thick layer of white plaque, which when removed reveals a reddened mucosa. In this case, you will need to cure the sore throat - then the white spots from the entire throat will disappear.

Inflammation of the palatal tongue

If in general a person has a clear sky, but the tongue is still inflamed and reddened, that is, the reason to diagnose "uvulit."This disease is characterized by suddenness - pain and swelling may appear during eating or even in a dream.

There may be several reasons for uvulitis:

• Damage to veins in the organ.
• Exposure to pathogenic microbes or infection.
• Continuous rhinitis.
• Sinusitis.
• Tonsillitis.
• Caries.
• Trauma to the organ.
• Allergic reaction.
• Burn or subcooling.
• Drinking too much strong alcohol.
• Blastoma.
• Taking some medications.

As you can see, there are really a lot of reasons for inflaming the uvula of the palatine, but most often it is the presence in the oral cavity in one form or another of any infection. To avoid the appearance of exactly uvulita, it is necessary to begin treatment immediately with any diseases in the throat and nose, without allowing the development of serious complications.

Most often, when the disease begins to progress, the body swells and intensely reddens. The examination clearly shows an increase in its size, and sometimes it is covered with a translucent whitish coating in the form of a film. This disease is much more predisposed to those people who have adenoids or tonsils removed: the infection in this case does not settle on them, but immediately passes to other organs.

The main symptoms of uvulitis:

• Total body temperature increase.
• Weakness and pain in muscles and joints, general weakness.
• Swelling and severe reddening of the entire area of ​​the soft palate.
• Permanent sensation of foreign body in the throat.
• Problems with breathing, lack of oxygen. It appears only if the tongue is enlarged very strongly.
• Severe pain during swallowing food or saliva.
• Noticeable swelling of the organ, its sagging directly to the base of the tongue.
• Problems with pronunciation of a number of sounds, fuzzy speech.
• Significantly increased salivation.
• Sudden, unreasonable urge to vomit, vomiting attacks.
• If the cause of uvulitis is the ingestion of an allergen, then as an additional symptom, a skin rash, coughing, itching in the throat, a serious runny nose, profuse lachrymation, itching all over the body, sometimes even breathing problems.

This disease usually occurs very suddenly, but with the first symptoms it should be treated so that in the future there are no more serious complications.

The most dangerous of these complications is a strong increase in the tongue in length. If medical care is not provided in a timely manner, then the process simply completely closes the airways and provokes asphyxiation. It will require already extremely urgent assistance, as a result of uvulit will lead to a fatal outcome.

In addition, it is important to understand that diseases that provoke uvulitis are dangerous in and of themselves. Therefore, if the tongue becomes inflamed, it will be necessary to quickly establish an accurate diagnosis and prescribe a complete treatment that will save you from this ailment.

Treatment of palatal inflammation

Uvulitis - the disease is not only dangerous enough, but also difficult to cure, so the approach to its therapy is needed in an integrated way.

First of all, before the treatment of inflammation begins, it will be necessary to remove its main cause. Self-treatment is useless, because you yourself do not establish the cause. Depending on what caused the inflammation, the treatment will be prescribed. For example, if it's caries, you'll need to eliminate it first. With throat diseases, as a rule, prescribe drug therapy and supplement it with physiotherapy.

The medicamentous treatment includes:

• Antihistamines for rapid removal of edema.
• Glucocorticosteroids that relieve edema and inflammation, and also have analgesic and antitoxic effects.
• Diuretics. They eliminate swelling, removing excess fluid from the body. They are important to take together with drugs that restore the body the right amount of calcium.
• Antimicrobials directly eliminating infection.
• Antibiotics that significantly slow down the inflammatory process and also eliminate all pathogens.
• Antiseptics, mainly sprays, for disinfection.

Physiotherapy is usually applied as follows:

• Phototherapy.
• Ultrahigh-frequency therapy.
• Treatment by electrocutions.
• Diverse inhalations.
• Phytotherapy.
• Special diet.
• Needle reflexotherapy.
• Electrophoresis.
• Mechanotherapy.
• Treatment of curative mud and electroplating.
• Magnetotherapy.
• Phototherapy with artificial short-wavelength light of ultraviolet quartz.

All these procedures, of course, are used in the throat where the uvula is located.

Tumors

If the palate strongly hurts, but the cause can not be established in any way, then there is a possibility that the oral cavity of a person has been exposed to a tumor. Malignant or benign neoplasm can develop both in the nasopharynx and in the area of ​​the organ itself, which causes a sensation of a lump in the throat, perspiration and discomfort. In this case, you need to visit the oncologist as soon as possible.

The tongue of the palatine bifurcated

From time to time parents face such a problem as a bifurcated palatal tongue in a child. This pathology is congenital, but children often notice it not immediately. The fact is that usually this pathology is not at all dangerous in itself. It does not provoke a child's speech problems and generally does not appear in the future, so do not be afraid of it.

Sometimes a bifurcated tongue of the palatine may be a sign of a partial or complete cleavage of the palate, but in this case other symptoms will inevitably be present, which the doctors will recognize even in the hospital.

Long palate tongue

The palatine tongue of almost any length does not affect the lumen of the pharynx and does not play a significant role in stopping breathing in sleep. However, if the tongue is too lengthened, then it may well start provoking snoring, since with the passage of air this organ oscillates, which will cause characteristic sounds.

If a patient has this problem, then often only surgical treatment can help him. It will be possible to partially or completely remove the organ, for example, using radio waves. As a result, the vibrations of the sky will decrease, and the snoring will disappear.

However, such a positive result will be achieved only if the cause of snoring is in this process. And after all, it can be caused by a set of weight, a curve of the nasal septum, polyps, adenoids and a number of other reasons. A small tongue in the throat can have nothing to do with snoring.

In such a situation, operation on a soft sky is not the best solution. Help in this case is capable, for example, of CIPAP-therapy. So before surgery on this organ, consult a doctor.

Short or missing palatine

As it was written above, as a result of the operation or since birth, the palatine tongue of a person can be very short or it generally can not be. As a rule, it does not cause any pathologies and problems in life, so it's by no means worth worrying about it.